by: Matt Rhodes
Over the next few weeks I’m going to be posting some great examples of co-creation that we’ve come across and some thoughts on what makes for good co-creation: Co-creation case studies.
The concept of ‘we’ is one that intrigues me. There is an undoubted power to ‘I’. People like hearing personal stories and experiences, and we see in our online communities that such stories can get better reactions and greater responses. However, the power of ‘we’ is greater – people collaborating on an idea or innovation, working with each other to further improve and advance the previous thought.
Iterating and refining an idea is one of the best ways of bring in different view-points and peer reviewing the concept as it develops. We find that getting brands involved in this process can be illuminating – for the consumer, the brand and the idea. Good innovation and co-creation comes from getting people with different skills, experiences and understanding of the product or brand together. They each add something to the process and can bring their expertise and experience to the subject.
One of the best introductions to the ‘we’ experience that I’ve seen comes from Marieke Schoenmaker. The slides below are a great introduction to the subject, and the case studies at the end of the deck (including Nike+ and Zopa) are world-leading examples of the power of we.
Some more reading
- Ignore the Consumer?
- So How Do You Measure ROI of Online Communities?
- Nike’s Branded Storytelling Showcases Innovation
- Social Media + Company = Are you ready to innovate?
Original Post: http://blog.freshnetworks.com/2008/08/co-creation-and-innovation-the-we-experience/
